In the children’s computer game series Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, in which the objective is to track down the titular globetrotting spy, you could always spot Carmen by
her scarlet trench coat and matching wide-brimmed hat. These days, if one were to apply the same principle to a proverbial game of Where in the World Is Steve Harvey?, you could spot the perennial TV personality—and newfangled style icon—by any number of his outrageously “fly ’til I die” ensembles.
Those ensembles are the brainchildren of his stylist Elly Karamoh, who has spent the past few years gently but firmly guiding Harvey’s wardrobe of ’90s baggy suits into the Instagram age. (It helps that they met via Steve’s wife, Marjorie Harvey, whom Karamoh also styles from time to time.) And in this case, that may mean revisiting the 2020s revival of the ’90s baggy suit trend in the form of a carefully tailored set of silky, logo-printed Balenciaga PJs.
“When I style Mr. Harvey,” Karamoh writes by email, “I always think range.” Last month, when Harvey was taping Celebrity Family Feud, Karamoh dressed him in the vibrant fitted suits and ties he’s been turning heads for on the ’gram, so for his trip to Dubai, where he’s in town for the postponed 2020 World Expo, they wanted to go for something a bit different. He had the oversized pajama pants tapered from the waist “to create a light bell-bottom appeal,” which flared out over a pair of double-B Balenciaga leather mules.
This is hardly Steve’s first foray into the Demnaverse. Last month, he posed for the cover of Paper magazine wearing a custom Balenciaga couture cape—the size of a duvet cover and in a hue one might even call…Carmen Sandiego red. Karamoh styled the look in homage to the late André Leon Talley, the pioneer of joyous, capital-F Fashion, larger-than-life menswear. As Harvey told GQ back in October, “When you’re a game show host and a talk show host, [fashion] is limited because you're talking just to middle America. And I was afraid of shocking them too much,” to which Karamoh chimed in: “Meanwhile, I'm on the other side, ready for shock value.” Paying a visit to Demna in the house that Cristóbal Balenciaga built is certainly one way to go about it.
“For Dubai I really wanted to occupy a new space for his style,” says Karamoh. “My intent for this ready-to-wear Balenciaga look was for Mr. Harvey to evoke this urban yet very sophisticated feel.”
Plus, we can’t ignore the look’s crucial accessory (other than the busy-businessman phone to Steve’s ear): “The Dior Rimowa mini suitcase is one of his favorite accessories to carry now. He doesn’t go anywhere without his cigars.”
So, in this week’s game, we’ve got: Steve Harvey, in Dubai, wearing head-to-toe Balenciaga. Case closed. (However, presumably unlike Carmen, Steve gave himself away by captioning his Instagram fit pic with “Hello DUBAÏ.” Dressing like an international man of mystery does not mean that you need to act like one.)